#56 Karaoke Birthday

Juliana turned 9 years old last week. Kathleen arranged her dream request for a girl-only Karaoke dance party. Kathleen should really write this story about arranging for a two-hour karaoke room with a non-English speaking concierge at the "Fruit-TV Karaoke House."

In the U.S., Karaoke is the subject of Adam Sadler movies and other such lampooning, but in China, Karaoke is serious business. Every self-respecting entertainment district or business hotel in China will be close to a collection of Karaoke bars or have their own in-house operation. I have been to a few myself, but usually only after having enough Baijiu to make the recollections vague.

By all accounts, Juliana and her girlfriends had a great time. Featured in the photos along with the birthday are friends Jemma, Kaya, Cori, Makenzie, and Alli.

#55 Random Fireworks

The last two nights, for no apparent reason, there have been huge fireworks displays across the lake from us. During much of the year, there are fireworks every Friday and Saturday night at the plaza called "Rainbo Walk." However, those seem to have stopped for the winter. During the Chinese New Year festival, there were formal fireworks on several nights and impressive backyard firework displays for several weeks going. Large, rocket-style fireworks and ordnance much more powerful than your average M80 are readily available for sale from markets and street vendors. Apparently there are no rules against them as there are in the U.S. I remember fondly those rare occasions as a child that I got my hands on a sparkler or a "snake".

Well back to tonight's display - there was an improptu fireworks show that was larger and longer than any 4th of July fireworks I have attended on the Peoria riverfront. Unbelieveable. The cost to produce these displays must be significantly less expensive than in the U.S. I recall that the average Peoria show would set off a $100K worth of explosives in an evening. Perhaps they spend less on liability insurance in China to keep the costs manageable !

#54 Juliana's Viola

Juliana began studying the viola this week. She received the instrument as a gift for her ninth birthday. Her teacher, Ms. Song, sent this picture as a reference for Juliana to focus on correct posture.

I remember starting the violin when I was Juliana's age and being very eager to play a musical instrument. In my elementary school, you could start the violin in 3rd grade, but wind instruments you could not start until 4th grade. I tool the violin for one year then switched to the trumpet.

I am very pleased to see Juliana learning an instrument. Music was a big part of my life as a young person. I played the trumpet from age ten all the way through high school and college. My closest friends in high school were from band and I got to participate in regional bands and summer camps through various music programs. I hope Juliana also finds that kind of pleasure in developing the creative, technical, and social skills that come with being a musician.

#52 Phuket w/ Pics

Believe it or not, after my initial despair over the lost pictures, I discovered that the memory card from the sunken camera still held my Phuket pictures.

Now I am in a better mood to write a summary of our second R&R trip since moving to China. Phuket is an island province located on the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. From Shanghai, it was a five hour direct flight on China Eastern Airlines. Unfortunately the flight is a red-eye in both directions !

Phuket is a beautiful beach locale and the main activity, particularly with small children, is swimming. We spent every day on the beach or at the pool. The kids prefer the pool and it is easy on the parents.

We stayed at a five star resort called the Meridien. It had a fantastic breakfast and many activities included in the deal. We did snorkeling, miniature golf, rock climbing, archery, bocce, and lots of sailing. The had Hobie Cats to loan out and Juliana and I went sailing on three different days.

On several evenings, we visited different nearby beach towns on the west coast of Phuket - these included Karon, Kata, and Patong Beach. Each beach town was a crowded enclave of guesthouses, restaurants, and shopping vendors. Patong was the king of them all with nightclubs and and the busiest nightlife scene than I have seen in my life.

On Thursday we took a speed boat charter to Phi Phi Island, about 30 miles off the east coast of Phuket. The boat ride itself was far from pleasant because we travelled at breakneck speed over a rough sea. The bumby ride left all of us with sore backs and I suffered a bloody toe. The sights we saw, however, were just remarkable. These islands were truly what you picture in a Robinson Crusoe epic - except that they were crawling with tourists and hucksters renting beach chairs. The scenery was fantastic and we did some more snorkeling which was also spectacular.

Again, we are counting our blessings at the benefits of being on this assignment in China. The R&R trips are one of the perks of our expat package and the places that we all are getting to see and experience are amazing.

A more complete set of photos has been uploaded to Snapfish for your enjoyment. Thanks for tuning in !

#51 Phuket Sans Pics

We just returned today from our week R&R in Phuket, Thailand. The lead picture above was going to be a shot of our family on a turquoise beach in the Andaman Sea during an island hopping speedboat tour. Unfortunately, during one of our island stops, I carried Maria from the beach to the boat in waist deep water with the Sony Cybershot in the pocket of my swimsuit. The camera was submerged in seawater and I lost all of the pictures of our Thailand vacation. Oh, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am !

Juliana and I went to U-town in Suzhou this afternoon and bought a new camera. In the picture above she is posing with the kind salesman named Li Gang at the Sony booth who sold us a new camera.

There is still hope for a couple good pictures. I bought a waterproof disposable camera in Thailand to take snorkeling and swimming. There may be a shot or two from that batch that is worth posting. Tomorrow I will get those pictures back from the Kodak shop. Maybe once I get over the depression of losing the pictures, I will write a story of our vacation in Phuket.

#50 More Snow

Many of you have probably read about the winter storm and severe transportation problems in southern and central China this week. According to a travel alert update from Caterpillar, this is the heaviest snows on record in the last 50 years. Weather-related traffic accidents and building collapses have killed at least 63 people so far.

The snow hit just as travel was ramping up for the biggest holiday in China - the Chinese New Year. This is akin to a snowstorm on the eve of Thanksgiving in the U.S. only much, much more severe because it is said that 200 million people travel to see their families for Chinese New Year !

According to report, much of southern China remains without power. Telecommunication and water supply disruptions continue. Food shortages have begun to hit some areas. The government has deployed over 300,000 troops and some one million militia and army reservists to help clear roads and restore power to the millions of people who have been without electricity for over a week.

The storm is also causing severe transportation problems. Many roads are covered in snow and ice, thousands of cars are stranded, and many rail lines are out of service, due to toppled power lines and icy rails. We had a visitor from Xuzhou in the office on Monday. She was stranded in Shanghai when her flight was cancelled, managed to take a train to Nanjing on Wednesday, and as of Friday, she was trying to get a train ticket or a ride with a friend to Xuzhou.

Here in Suzhou, we have seen little evidence of these cataclysmic events. Chinese friends travelling next week are concerned about the trains and some expat friends have been delayed on their R&R trip departures. Our biggest challenge was keeping the kids entertained for a week of snow days. We did have a brief power outage last week at our home, but it was fixed during the night.

Above are some pictures of our house and neighborhood. Joseph crafted a snowman. All of us were caught here without boots or snow gear because we were told that it never snows in Suzhou !